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REALNETWORKS INTRODUCES HELIX COMMUNITY GRANT PROGRAM TO CHAMPION OPEN SOURCE AND RESEARCH COMMUNITIES' PURSUIT OF DIGITAL MEDIA INNOVATION
Applications being accepted by the Helix community Grant Program until October 03,2003
Linux World, San Francisco, August 6, 2003 — RealNetworks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK, Booth #567), the global leader in digital media services and software for consumers and businesses, today announced the Helix™ Community Grant Program. The grant program is open to all, including independent developers, academic and research institutions, non-profits and commercial enterprises. It has been formed to support researchers and open source developers within the Helix community (www.helixcommunity.org) pursue their digital media innovation efforts, and those seeking an open source digital media platform.
“We are launching the grant program to attract top talent and research advances for the benefit of both the research and open source communities. Our goal is to ensure that the Helix platform incorporates cutting edge research advances and has the widest extensibility,” said Nagesh Pabbisetty, vice president, Helix Products and Solutions, RealNetworks. Inc. “We want to support those who are as excited about the future of digital media delivery as we are. The best way for us to show our support is through helping to fund other ground-breaking research, inventive implementations and creative digital media projects.”
Successful grant applicants will receive funding from the program for their digital media research or project from a pool of $75,000. In addition, each successful proposal will be assigned a technical adviser familiar with the Helix platform, to assist in navigating the code and removing technical obstacles interfering with the project’s success. Further, student applicants may also be entitled to receive academic credit for their Helix research and innovation work. All applications for grant program funding received before midnight, Friday, October 03, 2003 will be considered.
In the true spirit of open source, Helix community members are invited to nominate qualified individuals to join the Grant Program Review Board. The inclusion of members of the Helix community in the selection of the Grant Program Review Board will ensure that members of the open source and academic research communities have not only a voice but also an impact on the future course of the Helix community and overall digital media innovation.
The grant program will consider proposals that either have clear utility in the open source community or that lend themselves to commercial applications. It is anticipated that grant program proposals will fit into one of three broad categories:
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Advanced Research – Solve the highest order network challenges facing digital media. Open the door to an entirely new realm for digital video and audio. Create compelling new functionality that will provide wider application to digital media. Test the limits of the Helix platform. Apply the latest research in transports, codecs, and media delivery technology to the platform, and use the platform to uncover new areas of research exploration. |
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Solutions to Implementation Gaps – Extend support for the Helix platform to additional operating systems, codecs and devices. Ensure that the Helix platform complies with the latest audio, video and network standards. |
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Creative Projects – Projects that wow the Helix community and users worldwide with creative applications and extensions to the first open multi-format digital media platform. Modest grants may be awarded to projects that demonstrate highly entertaining uses of the Helix platform, even if the project's utility is not immediately apparent. |
A detailed outline of the grant program requirements and process is available at https://www.helixcommunity.org/2003/grants/.
For More Information:
Lisa Strong, RealNetworks, (206) 892-6585, lstrong@real.com
About Helix
Helix is a platform and a community for the standardization and expansion of digital media. The Helix platform, Helix DNA, consists of source code for creation, delivery and playback of digital media developed by RealNetworks over the past nine years, as well as a set of interfaces for building media-enabled applications. Helix community members are able to use this source code to build media-capable products with industry-leading technology and commonly used interfaces. The Helix community offers source code of Helix DNA under commercial community and open source licenses. RealNetworks has also released a family of commercial products built on top of the Helix DNA platform, including the free RealOne® Player and the Helix Universal Server.
About RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is the leading global provider of network-delivered digital audio and video services and the creator of the technology that enables digital media creation, distribution and consumption. Consumers use RealNetworks' RealOne Player and RealNetworks' content subscription service, RealOne SuperPass™, to play free and premium digital content. Broadcasters, network operators, media companies and enterprises use RealNetworks' products and services to deliver digital media to PCs, mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. Consumers can access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks' consumer software at http://www.real.com. RealNetworks' systems and corporate information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com.
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